


(Not) A Put-On-A-Show Kind of Guy

by misura



Category: Chuck (TV)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Pre-Slash, Stanford Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-08
Updated: 2011-01-08
Packaged: 2017-10-14 13:53:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/149871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Circuses aren't really high on Chuck's list of 'things he likes', but Bryce asked him if he wanted to go, implying the answer he wanted to hear was 'yes', so Chuck had plastered a smile on his face and said 'sure, sounds like fun'.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	(Not) A Put-On-A-Show Kind of Guy

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted September 2010
> 
> prompt: _Bryce/Chuck, circus_

They're sitting on Jill's bed, only a few inches apart, and Chuck thinks that if he'd been Bryce, he'd definitely be holding Jill's hand - or maybe he'd even be kissing her. Since he's Chuck though, he's just smiling at her in what he hopes to be a moderately intelligent-looking way that might imply that if she wants to hold hands, he'd totally be up for it. Except that his palms are feeling a little sweaty.

"Hey." Bryce says it's fine to not say anything sometimes, when you're with someone special, but Ellie says that it's silly to expect someone to know how you feel without telling them, and in this one case, Chuck thinks he's with Ellie.

Jill smiles back at him. "Hey you." Her nose looks very kissable.

Chuck decides that now is as good a time as any to pop the question.

"So, when someone asks you to go to the circus with them, does that count as a date?"

Jill blinks. "What?" She frowns a little. "Someone asked you on a _date_?" She sounds annoyed - almost angry and, okay, Chuck supposes he can see where she's coming from. He could have phrased his question a bit clearer.

"Well, it's just Bryce," he says casually. It's not like him and Bryce have never gone anywhere together before; they're roommates, after all, and friends, and they have a lot in common, at least when it comes to things they like.

Circuses aren't really high on Chuck's list of 'things he likes', but Bryce asked him if he wanted to go, implying the answer he wanted to hear was 'yes', so Chuck had plastered a smile on his face and said 'sure, sounds like fun'.

"You think _Bryce_ asked you out on a date?" Jill looks amused now which - okay, so the idea that she might actually be _jealous_ was kind of hot, but overall, Chuck'd much rather see her smile. "I hate to break it to you, Chuck, but I'm pretty sure he's dating Rosie right now."

"How come you always know these things?" It's not that Chuck _wants_ to hear all about Bryce and his new girlfriend-of-the-week, but he _is_ Bryce's friend and roommate and so he kind of feels like maybe he should at least know who he can invite inside and whom he should politely but firmly ask to wait in the hallway if she wants to talk to Bryce. (Not that any of Bryce's ex- or current girlfriends have ever shown up at their room while Bryce wasn't there, but it _could_ happen one day, and then what?)

"I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." Jill grins.

"Oh, in that case, please don't tell me." Chuck grins back, feeling slightly light-headed. "So, how'd you like to go to the circus with me this weekend?"

Jill arches one eyebrow.

"Hey, if it's good - and there'll be clowns," Chuck says. "Lions, some elephants - I think they've even got a talking dog, although that's probably a fake. But, you know, could be fun."

"Not really my thing. So when are you and Bryce going?"

"Saturday," Chuck says.

 

"Friday," Bryce says. "Sorry, should have told you sooner."

"Yes, you should have," Chuck says, because it's true, even if it's also true that any other week, it wouldn't have been a problem. Unlike Bryce, there's rather a lot of open spaces on Chuck's social calendar.

"Tickets for Saturday were all sold out by the time I got there," Bryce explains.

"Must be really something, eh?" Chuck is a bit glad Jill didn't want to go. It's bad enough he's going to have to cancel their date on Friday; he wouldn't have wanted to also tell her the tickets for the circus were all sold out by the time he checked - which they probably are, now, given that Bryce went to get them yesterday.

"You got a date with Jill planned that night?" Bryce seems to be able to read his mind. It's a bit almost-creepy sometimes, but also sort of handy, when Chuck can't quite find the right words to say. "Never mind then; I'll just go with someone else."

"No!" Maybe Bryce really doesn't mind. Chuck doesn't think so, though. "No," he says. "It's just dinner and a movie, you know? We can do it on Saturday, no problem."

Bryce gives him a look. "She's supposed to be your girlfriend, Chuck."

"Hey, I've got this, okay? You just worry about your _own_ girlfriend - Rosie, was it?" Chuck watches Bryce's expression, to see if perhaps Bryce is picking up on the hint that maybe the name of his current girlfriend is the kind of information one should share with one's roommate.

"Caroline," Bryce corrects him. "And thanks."

 

There are a _lot_ of people - although Chuck thinks most of them are families with kids. He feels kind of conspicious, as if everyone's looking at him and wondering what he's doing here, a grown-up all by himself, coming to see the clowns and the lions and what-not.

He's not _really_ all by himself, of course. "Hey," Bryce says, taking his hand. "You all right?"

"You know, last time I went to the circus, I was seven or so." Bryce's hand is warm and solid and it sort of makes Chuck feel a lot better to have Bryce remind him he's right here. "My dad took us."

"Oh." Bryce hands over their tickets with one hand and gets directions to their seats. "I didn't mean to bring back bad memories."

"I wouldn't call it a bad memory - I mean, it was fun, you know?" A lot of things are much more impressive when you're seven, of course. They didn't have things like Discovery Channel back then; the only place Chuck'd seen elephants or lions had been in the zoo, and they hadn't been doing any tricks there. "So, when was _your_ last time?"

Bryce says nothing, and when Chuck turns to look at him, he's staring at the ring. Nothing's going on yet that Chuck can see; all the lights are still on and people are still wandering around looking for their seats. "Bryce?"

The expression on Bryce's face as he turns is almost guilty, as if Chuck has caught him doing something he's not supposed to be doing. "Sorry. My last time doing what?"

"Going to the cir- " Chuck starts, when the lights dim.

 

The ringmaster speaks English with a British accent and looks Asian - Chinese, possibly, given that the circus is Chinese, too. Chuck can only make out about one word in three, but he wasn't really planning on throwing anything into the ring during the show (or before or after it, for that matter) or releasing his petdog to go play with the lions or some such thing, and most of what the man says seem to be a list of things nobody with any common sense would do in a circus anyway.

Chuck isn't really impressed by the lions or the elephant (singular, yes) but the acrobats are pretty good and you can't really go wrong when it comes to clowns.

He could almost have missed Bryce rising and leaving to - "Where are you going?" Chuck whispers.

"Back in five minutes," Bryce whispers back, which presumably means he doesn't want to say.

Chuck sighs and tries to watch Bryce as he walks down in the direction of the ring and then heads off to the side where Chuck doesn't _think_ the bathrooms are, although he might be mistaken and although Bryce didn't actually say that was where he was going.

It's all kind of weird, really, but Chuck figures he can always ask about it later.

 

When the show ends, it's close to forty-five minutes later, and Bryce still hasn't returned. Chuck dawdles as long as he can - it's not exactly hard, with most people seeming to want to leave as quickly as possible now that there's nothing interesting to see anymore.

Chuck considers asking someone from the circus for help, but he's got no idea what to ask or where Bryce went, and they seem pretty busy helping people with wailing kids safely getting to the exit, so in the end, Chuck simply heads for the exit in the hopes that Bryce might be waiting for him at the car or some such thing, for reasons as yet unknown.

It comes as a bit of a surprise when he gets to the car and his faint hope actually turns out to be true.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" Chuck asks, and maybe his voice is a little sharper than the situation warrants, but he was kind of worried and Bryce _had_ said he'd only be five minutes.

"Get in the car," Bryce says, his voice at least as sharp as Chuck's and his face pale and tense. "Please, Chuck," - and his expression softens, possibly because he's seen Chuck's.

Chuck gets in the car. It's not like he was ever _not_ going to get in the car, after all, and Bryce seems rather keen on it, and the magic word has been used, and there's no reason to stand around talking anyway; they can talk in the car, too.

"Sorry," Bryce says, and Chuck waits for details - such as what, exactly, Bryce is sorry about, aside from maybe snapping at Chuck a little, which is fine, really; Chuck knows he gets a bit snappy, too, sometimes, when there's a test coming and he needs to study and Bryce thinks it's a great idea to relax a bit first, by doing something like, oh watching the entire first season of _Babylon 5_. They're roommates; they get to see each other's bad sides every now and then.

Chuck thinks Bryce has seen a lot more of _his_ bad side than he has of Bryce's. "Just ... just let me know if there's anything I can do to help, okay?" He's got no idea what it is he's offering to help Bryce with, exactly, but it's _Bryce_ , so Chuck figures it's all right.

Bryce looks at him as if he's reading Chuck's mind again. Chuck feels his face grow warm for no reason.

"You trust me that much?"

"Hey," Chuck says, smiling because Bryce isn't, "if I can't trust _you_ , who _can_ I trust?"


End file.
